Thinking of suicide, 15-year-old Kindra Greene cut a bloody "D" into her leg. But before she could finish the word "Death," Kindra found out she was pregnant.

She believes that 8-pound, 13-ounce boy, born in March 2011, saved her life.

"This was my motivation to live. I was going to be a good mom," said Kindra, now 18.

A girl who had been abused and neglected, shuffled from relatives to shelters and foster homes, Kindra Greene found focus and strength in becoming an unwed teenage mother. She resolved to keep her child, finish high school, work a job. And she did.

"When I got pregnant, I felt it's about you and your unborn child and you doing everything you can for your child so you can be successful," she said.

But at 17, she found herself homeless, unemployed, depressed and alone. Her last chance was BETA Center, a nonprofit organization that received $20,000 this year from the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund Holiday Campaign to promote positive parenting skills among teen mothers. The Orlando center provides education, housing, day care, parenting skills, counseling and support for teenage mothers, primarily in Orange County.

BETA teaches children how to raise children.

"We practice, we show, we teach," said Ruth Patrick, BETA's president and CEO. "The girls are bombarded in a positive way with information and choices. The teens themselves are learning how to be independent thinkers."

BETA taught Kindra how to provide her son with stability, routine, nurturing — and discipline that didn't include getting "popped."

"Looking back now, I see that me popping him only started him being aggressive,'' she said. "When I spanked him, he hit back. Or when he got around other kids, he would hit them or scratch them.''

From a childhood of chaos, she embraced a life of structure. Instead of putting her baby to bed when she went to sleep at 2 a.m., bedtime was 9 p.m. every night, preceded by a bath, quiet time together and reading. Without the worry and anxiety of basic survival, mother and child spent more time together and grew closer.

"They have helped me build a closer relationship with my son," she said. "One of the things they focus on is bonding with your child: eat with your child, cook for your child, different activities with your child, spending time with your child."

She came to see her son, Keiyontae, as an unique human being, a little boy who likes his chicken baked, not fried, and favors rice and corn over candy and cake. When she bought him a little cake for his first birthday, ready to photograph him covering his face in frosting, he refused to touch it.

She marvels at his inquisitive nature, the way he likes to take things apart and put them back together. She sees in him a budding human being far different from her but also somewhat alike: "He has my smile."

Today, those letters she carved on her thigh are thin, faint scars like the scratches on a leather couch. They have faded with the past, a vague memory of a hard, dark time in her life that now seems filled with light and hope.

She is attending Valencia College with the goal of becoming a registered nurse. She shares an apartment with two other teen moms. She has BETA backing her up, following her progress, always there if she needs advice, guidance and encouragement.

But the mark of the knife, and the pain it expressed, is still there, an indelible reminder of the desperate and damaged girl she once was on the body of the successful and self-sufficient woman she hopes to become one day.

Thousands of children and families throughout Central Florida need your help this holiday season. Contributions to the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund Holiday Campaign provide basic needs such as a hot meal; a place to sleep; or after-school tutoring and literacy programs to youth year-round. All administrative costs are paid by the Family Fund and the McCormick Foundation, which contributes 50 cents for every dollar donated. You can charge a donation to a credit card by calling 800-518-3978 or going to OrlandoSentinelFamilyFund.org. Questions? Call 407-420-5705.